


Distance and Dinosaurs - Kei Tsukishima x Reader | COMPLETED

by IppenX



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Complete, F/M, Hugs, Kisses, Long-Distance Relationship, POV First Person, Relationship built from 0 bc that's how I roll, So many dinosaurs, Yams is a pile of sass, and Tsukki in love is like the most emotional thing ever, he literally can't help it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 12:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12531632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IppenX/pseuds/IppenX
Summary: The dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago, but Tsukki still loved them despite how distant their era was. It was a cool hobby for him, but little did he know that he'd soon be cursing his tendency to fall in love with far away things ...





	1. The Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a cross-posting account: I'm primarily active on Quotev.com, where you can find me under the same username [IppenX].  
> Link to original post: quotev.com/story/9794264

Daichi stood in front of the Sendai Metropolitan Gymnasium, shaking hands with Kuroo:

"It's been fun to play against you in this meet up. Thanks for coming all the way from Tokyo!"

"Gladly! And you better win the next time!"

"We sure will!" Waving goodbye, Daichi turned to his team. "Everyone ready to leave?"

"No ... Stingyshima still isn't here." Hinata piped up.

Daichi looked around and sure enough, the blonde salty beanpole was nowhere to be seen. "Is he still changing clothes?"

A few of the guys shrugged their shoulders, but Kageyama shook his head after a moment's thought. "He left before me. I think he said he was going to go cool down by the sinks outside."

Daichi scratched his head. "Ah, do you think he's a bit jealous over how much Kuroo blocked him? He might still have his head stuck under the tap water, I'll go get him ...."

"No need, I'll go!" Yamaguchi yelled out, already running to the back of the gym complex.

 

Minutes earlier, Tsukki was indeed still slouched down, letting the cold water run down the sides of his face.

_Damn, he got 87% of my spikes. And I can't even blame Kageyama for it, his tosses were just to my liking. Tsk. He may have taught me how to block better but I'm still out of his league ... though I wonder, has he ever blocked Ushijima like I did?_

Reluctant to admit his jealousy, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. As he did so, something caught the corner of his eye: slowly, he straightened up and closed the running tap before walking over to the nearby bench and picking up the object which caught his attention:

"Oh, it's an iPad." He murmured to himself before taking a better look at what he was holding. "Or maybe not, it looks like it's just an android tablet."

When he pressed the power button on the side, the screen lit up for a moment, flashing an image of a red battery before turning off again.

_The battery's dead ... what am I supposed to do now?_

He looked around to see if its owner was anywhere near, but he was the only person there. Pondering over his options, he absentmindedly started tapping his fingers on the screen of the tablet before he turned it around in his hands. As he did so, he was mildly startled by the different sound his fingers now made when they hit the acrylic case on the back of the tablet. He gazed down at it again, this time greatly surprised: what he was looking at wasn't just any colorful tablet case. Instead, it was decorated with beautiful art of a dinosaur reaching up to munch on the leaves of a nearby tree.

_Wow ... a Diplodocus? No, I think it's an Apatosauros actually ... regardless, it's amazing. I've never seen such a beautifully drawn dinosaur ... wait ... is it just me or does it kinda look like it's smiling? So gracious and serene._

It was then that he noticed a little phone strap hanging from the corner of the tablet: in a small plastic cube, there was a piece of rock with a tiny bone imprint in it. Curiously, Tsukki turned the cube around and like he expected, there was an inscription on the back:

"Hadrosaurid tail bone fossil. Hokkaido, 2003. Property of FPDM." He read out loud.

_A fossil from the_ _Fukui_ _Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama - the dino Mecca of Japan? Amazing ... wow._

As he looked at the fossil in his hand with wide eyes, a loud voice suddenly yanked his attention away:

"Tsukki, you're late! Daichi will be mad!"

He looked up at Yamaguchi who just came running around the corner.

"Come on Tsukki, let's go. What were you doing anyway?"

"Uhm ... I found this. I think someone forgot it here, but the battery's dead." Tsukki said, showing the tablet to Yamaguchi.

"Just take it with you, you can charge it at home. There's probably owner info on the lock screen anyway." Yams cheerfully suggested as they both walked back to their bus. "Besides, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, why?"

"Because usually, when I call you Tsukki, you tell me to stop. You didn't do it just now ... you seem kinda lost in thought."

Tsukki turned the tablet around and handed it to Yams with the case side up. "I was too busy looking at this. Have you ever seen such a good drawing of an Apatosauros?"

"Tsukki, I've never seen any drawing of an Ap... Apta... Apota..."

"Never mind. But look at the strap on the corner, it's an actual mini fossil."

"It's just a replica probably."

Tsukki shook his head, taking the tablet back into his hands. "I'm 98% sure it isn't. It says it's from the Fukui Museum on the back and I have a lot of their fossil replica key chains - they all have replica written somewhere on the back. This one doesn't, which is kinda amazing, I didn't even know they sold such things!"

Yams watched in amusement how excited his best friend could get over a small piece of rock. "The Fukui Museum ... is that the place you begged your mom to take you to all the time when we were little, even though you guys already went there for your birthday each year? And last year, you made me skip school with you to go see a limited time exhibition, and we almost got lost on the train ..."

"I didn't make you skip anything, you insisted you wanted to come with me. It's not my fault your parents got mad at you afterwards."

"I didn't mind. It was fun, once. But I could never be as obsessed as you! How many times did you go visit during our summer break, like four times?"

"Five, actually. And don't say I'm obsessed, I prefer to call it a dedication."

"A dedication to dinosaurs?"

"Yes. A dedication to dinosaurs."

 

After he apologized to Daichi for being late, the team finally got onto their bus and headed home. Everyone around him started to slowly doze off, but Tsukki had trouble falling asleep due to the excitement he felt about the mysterious tablet, not to mention that another thought begun to form in his head.

_It's a really special case ... whoever lost it must be out of their mind right now. I should find a way to contact them as soon as possible._

With that in mind, he leaned forward to Ukai who was sitting in front of him: "Coach, you brought your tablet with you like always, right?"

"Yeah."

"I was wondering, did you also happen to bring your battery pack?"

After a short rummaging noise, Ukai flung a cable across the seat to Tsukki. "There you go."

"Thank you." Tsukki said, plugging the tablet in. He waited for a while and then pressed the power button again. He waited for the device to start up and load the lock screen, but all he was greeted with was a Triceratops wallpaper and a PIN password lock.

"Yamaguchi, what now? There's no-" He stopped mid-sentence after seeing Yams already sound asleep on the seat beside him.

_Damn, what now? Should I try to guess the password? Or could someone possibly ... urgh._

He grinded his teeth at the idea he just got, but then turned around in his seat regardless, calling out to Hinata in a low voice so that he wouldn't wake up the others. "Hey, pshhh, Hinata!"

The flying orange chibi lifted his head and slowly opened his eyes. "Yah?"

"Nekoma's setter is good with tech stuff, right? Can you text me his number?"

"Why ... do you wanna trash-talk me? Kenma wouldn't do that with you, he's a good friend."

"I won't trash-talk you, I need a computer related favor from him."

"Only if you bow before me and say please three times."

_Tsk. For a fellow dino enthusiast, I guess I'll have to._

As quickly as possible, Tsukki lowered his head and mumbled. "Give me his phone number, please, please, please."

As he looked back up, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

"Done." Hinata mumbled, closing his eyes again. "Now let me sleep, Stingyshima. And don't harass my friends too much!"

Tsukki sat back down, texting Kenma right away:

"Hey, this is Tsukishima, the #11 MB from Karasuno. I asked Hinata for your number because I'd like to ask a favor of you, if that's okay with you. Do you know any way to unlock an android tablet that has a PIN password?"

Shortly after, he got a text back:

"I will gladly help any friend of Shouyou's. I know a few ways, but I would need my computer for that. I will text you in the evening when we arrive back home."

After reading it, Tsukki leaned his head against the window, finally able to slowly drift into sleep.

_I've done all I could for now. Tsk, I can't believe I had to beg Hinata for something. Though I really hope I can find the owner of the tablet once Kenma gets home ... I wonder what kind of person they are._


	2. Chapter 2

In the evening, Tsukki sat in his bed, still admiring the art on the tablet's case while waiting for Kenma's text. Sure enough, the pudding head delivered on his promise:

"Just got home, starting up my computer now. Mind calling me?"

Tsukki got up and walked over to his desk as he pressed the call button. Kenma picked up after a few rings.

"Good evening. Sorry to bother you."

He could hear the clicking of a keyboard before Kemna replied. "Hello."

"So, are you sure it's okay to call you so late?"

"I usually prefer texting. I'm not good at talking to people. But this could take forever over texts. I'm just trying to be practical, Kuroo says it's a good thing."

"Aha."

"So, what's with the tablet? Did you forget your password?"

Tsukki sighed and briefly explained how he found the tablet.

"So you just took it?" Kenma then asked with an obviously disapproving tone. "Someone probably came looking for it right away, you know. Tablets can be so cheap these days, no one would care to steal one. What brand is it anyway?"

"I have no idea. It doesn't say anything in the front and there's no way I'm taking off the case to see the back - I won't risk breaking it."

"Anything distinct about the lock screen?"

"Not really ... except, wait ..." Tsukki turned on his laptop, waiting for the home screen to load. "Oh, yes. I was wrong. I assumed it was an android because it obviously wasn't an iPad, but I think it might be a Windows tablet after all? The lock screen is almost the same as the one on my laptop. Also, it's kind of big tablet if that helps."

"How big?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen many tablets. I'll send you a picture." He took his phone and took a photo of the tablet, his hand next to it for scale. "Did you get it?"

"Yep, I'm opening it now. It's probably an Acer or a Le- shit. Tsukishima?"

Surprised by the sudden cut off sentence, Tsukki replied: "Yes? What is it?"

"I take back what I said before. About no one wanting to steal a tablet."

"Why?"

"Because this is a Panasonic 4k Toughpad. It's one of the best professional tablets in existence ... and it costs more than 6 hundred thousand yen at least."

"Wow ... does that mean you can't hack into it?"

"Ha. Just because the device is high spec, it doesn't mean the operation system is any better. Here's what we're gonna do now - do you have Skype?"

"I do, it's Tsukishima_Kei11."

"Okay, I sent you a link. Open it and download the program."

"What is it for?"

"It lets me take remote control of someone's computer. It's something I made last year when I got tired of Kuroo calling me over all the time to fix his laptop."

"Okay, I've installed it."

"Now please connect the tablet to your laptop with a USB cable. I'll log on there in a second ... and I'm in."

"I've connected the tablet, what now?"

"That's all. You can go make yourself a sandwich or something, I'll need about half an hour. I'll text you once it's done."

"Okay ... thank you very much."

 

Instead of going to get something to eat like Kenma suggested, Tsukki remained at his desk, casually reading the newest issue of an archaeology magazine. Occasionally, he glanced at the laptop and tablet, but while he could observe a bunch of programs and numbers flashing across both screens, he had no actual idea about what Kenma was doing.

_Good thing Hinata makes friends so easily. I suppose if I ever need a bodyguard, I can just ask him for Aone's number too._

Half an hour passed, then forty minutes, then fifty. After an hour, he could still see Kenma working and it wasn't until almost an extra half an hour later that he finally got a new text from him:

"Sorry it took so long. Whoever owns this knows how to take care of it, except for the part where they left it on a gym bench. They had two anti-virus programs on plus an additional lock with a GPS tracking option so they'd be able to track it eventually, but I had to disable all of those in the process, so when you find the owner, make sure to tell them they have to turn all their intricate security measures on again because I literally reset everything. Try unlocking it now, I've set it back to the factory default PIN."

_Wow, he sure can send long texts ... and how am I supposed to know what that factory default is?_

"Thank you. What is the factory default?"

"Oops, I thought that was common knowledge. It's always 0000."

Tsukki typed four zeroes and pressed enter: sure enough, the tablet unlocked.

"I'm in, it worked."

"I knew it would. I guess your best bet is either checking the emails now or Facebook, if it's on there."

"I will. Don't even know how to properly thank you for all your work."

"How about next time when we play, you don't block Lev all the time?"

"Deal. I'll get Kuroo instead. Goodnight, I apologize once again for keeping you up this late."

"It's okay. Goodnight."

Setting down his phone, Tsukki unplugged the tablet from his laptop, handling it extra carefully now that he knew how much it was worth. Following Kenma's advice, he looked for the Facebook icon and opened it, landing it on a random news feed.

_This somehow feels like an invasion of privacy ... but it's for a good cause, at least._

Thinking so, he hesitantly pressed the profile button. When the screen loaded in less than a second, he found himself staring at a photo of a pretty girl with a big smile on her face and a plastic Stegosaurus figure tangled in her hair.

_It says here she's a first year at Katsuyama High School ... I wonder if that's near the museum?_

He stood up and went back to sitting on his bed, carefully taking the tablet with him as he looked up her high school on his phone.

_It's a half an hour walk away ... and not only that, it's a private school too. I guess that's to be expected from someone with a tablet like that. Well, I suppose I'll send her a message._

Putting the tablet down on his nightstand, he searched for her Facebook profile on his phone and typed out a well-thought-out message once he found her:

"Hello. I apologize for contacting you out of nowhere, but I found your tablet outside the Sendai Metro Gym today. Don't worry, it's perfectly unharmed."

With that, all he could do at the moment has been done, and he had no further reasons not to go to sleep after a long day of practice matches at the Sendai sports meet up.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, hey, wake up!"

I woke up to the sight of my brother shaking me by the shoulders as I lifted my head from the bus seat.

"We're home?"

"Yeah, and the whole team's off the bus already. Some manager you are, waking up last."

Embarrassed, I jumped up right away, taking my bag as I followed him off the bus. "Hey, I literally just started out last month!"

"We never wanted a first year manager to begin with."

"It ain't my fault your old manager quit. I can't blame her though, you guys are a bunch of rascals! Do you have any idea how many times I got a ball kicked to my head today?"

"It's soccer, that happens all the time."

Jokingly, I pouted at his rude remarks.

Seeing my frown, he stopped to pat my head. "But you know, I have no doubt you'll get used to it soon enough - you're my little sister after all. And you've done a great job so far, all the other guys are impressed."

I smiled as we continued our short walk home. Once we got to the house, I let him take a shower first while I unpacked my things.

_A three-day sport meet up. Who thought of such a thing? I'm exhausted from just watching them play all those practice matches ... not to mention I had absolutely no time to draw! Well, I've slept more than enough on the ride back, I guess I can make up for that now. I've got a few sketch ideas prepared already ..._

I thought about what my next piece could be as I opened my bag to take out my tablet - the best tool for drawing I've ever owned. But after moving around the clothes I packed, I couldn't find it anywhere.

_Wait ... this isn't good. Maybe I put it in his bag?_

I ran to my brother's room and opened his sports equipment bag, throwing a soccer ball out to the floor to make enough room so I could look through it, but with no luck. I went back to my room, took a deep breath to calm my nerves and looked through my bag again - but I still couldn't find it.

_Where is it ... where is it ... where is it ... I had it after the last match, I was inputting their stats and then the coach asked me to come help with packing up ... did I leave it out on the bench?!_

I jumped to my laptop and opened the GPS tracking program I had linked to my tablet. After loading for what felt like forever, it returned an empty result and an error message saying that access has been denied.

_Denied? How can it deny access to my own tablet?!_

Just as I started to panic internally, my phone beeped with a Facebook notification: 1 message request pending - Kei Tsukishima.

_I don't know that name ... and he doesn't even have his face as his profile photo... what even is that?_

I clicked on his profile to better see his photo and was immediately greeted with a T-Rex picture.

_He's into dinosaurs too? Then maybe, it's someone from the museum? Well, I guess it doesn't hurt to accept a message request, I can still block him later if he turns out to be a weirdo._

I opened the conversation and read the message he sent me. Seconds after, relief flooded over me after seeing that he found my tablet.

_Oh boy, this could have ended a lot worse ... I just lucked out on my biggest screw up ever!_

I saw he was no longer online, but decided to reply anyway:

"Thank you so much! I've been stupid enough to forget it in Sendai."

Right after sending that one, a thought crossed my mind and I couldn't help but send another message:

"Wait - how did you know it's mine?!"

I felt quite nervous when I put my phone down afterwards. Perplexed by the current turn of events, I turned around in my bed for a while before finally falling asleep.

 

~~~

 

I checked my messages first thing in the morning and sure enough, his reply was already there:

"I had no other clues so I asked my friend to hack into it. Then I took the liberty of opening your fb profile. I do apologize for the invasion of privacy."

_H-Hack? Into my tablet? But I set up the security myself! What kind of friends does he have?!_ _Though it's really nice of him to apologize for it._

Seeing that he was online, I wasted no time in replying:

"Don't be sorry for it, I'm just impressed you guys managed to get in. I thought I had a good security system on there! Are you friends with the Russian cyber mafia or something?"

"I am not. But I'm supposed to tell you that my friend completely reset the system, at least that's what he told me."

"So that's why it denied me access when I tried to track it last night! It's fine, I'll set it back up in no time."

"About that, how should I get it back to you? Want me to send it through the mail?"

_Hmm ... good question._

I got up from the bed and reached for my planner, flipping through the pages before I found what I was looking for: just like I thought, our soccer team had another match scheduled in Sendai at the end of the month.

 "Question, are you from Sendai?"

"Close enough, why?"

"Well ... it's a pretty expensive tablet, so if possible, I don't want risking it getting damaged in the mail. Our team is playing in Sendai again on the last weekend of this month - is there any way you could bring it to me then?"

"Sure."

"Thank you so much! I'll be sure to properly make it up to you! I'm really glad you found it!"

"No need for that."

 

Just as I read Tsukishima's last reply, my brother came dashing through the door: "Hey, did you forget to set your alarm?"

"No, why-", I asked and stopped when I saw the time on my phone. "Shit!"

He laughed at me as I scurried out of the room, headed towards the bathroom. "It's fine, dad's giving us a lift today!"

"Still, I need to get ready first!"

Amidst my hectic running around, I didn't even notice my phone beeped with a new message notification again.


	4. Chapter 4

"Tsukki?" Yamaguchi called out, waiting for his best friend at the club room door with no luck. "Hey, hey, Earth to Tsukki?" Still, nothing. With a sigh, Yams picked up a nearby volleyball and gently threw it at Tsukki's head, knocking off his glasses in the process.

Startled, Tsukki finally looked up from his phone. "What was that for?!"

"You didn't hear me when I called you. The next one was gonna be a jump floater."

"Don't be mean, Yamaguchi." Tsukki pleaded with him as they walked towards the gym.

"Says the guy who just ignored me."

"Sorry, I've been ... distracted."

"With what? Did they unearth a new dinosaur somewhere?"

"No. I found the owner of the tablet - I was just about to ask her where she got that case from, but it looks like she's not online anymore."

"It's a girl?"

"So what? Girls can appreciate dinosaurs too."

"She's really a dino fan?"

Tsukki shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose. She even has a selfie with one on her profile."

"Show me!"

Closing their conversation, he handed his phone to Yams.

"Wow, she's pretty! Wait, is that a dino in her hair?"

"Yes it is, now can I have my phone back ple- Wait, Yamaguchi! Where are you going?" Tsukki yelled out, chasing after Yams who unexpectedly dashed through the gym door.

"Guys, I have news! Tsukki has an internet girlfriend!"

Stopping dead in his tracks, he didn't even remember to fix his glasses as he watched the whole team run up to Yams.

_He didn't. Oh hell no, he didn't just do that._

Not a minute later, Noya and Tanaka were already hugging him and patting his head with pride:

"That's our boy! She's so pretty! On a 1 to Kiyoko-san scale, she's at least an 8!"

Tsukki shrugged them off, marching over to Yams to take his phone back. "I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. And you, stop it!" He was about to slap Yams on the head, but the freckled mass of sass already collapsed to the floor in laughter.

"Hahahaha, Tsukki, come on!"

"No. I don't have any kind of girlfriend and I don't see why you guys find it so funny."

Standing back up, Yams patted him on the shoulder. "That's exactly why it's funny - because we all kinda know you'd never be interested in a girl."

Except for Tanaka and Noya, the other guys nodded in agreement.

Tsukki looked around, relieved to see most of his teammates had at least some common sense. "That's right, I have no interest in- Wait. Does that mean you all think I'm gay or something?"

Everyone, including Ukai and Takeda who just walked in, started laughing like crazy.

"Well, it's not like Yamaguchi would say no if you asked him out!" Ukai said, adding fuel to the fire.

"Oh, I would never say no to Tsukki!"

Searching for the one reasonable soul left in this commotion, Tsukki finally bowed his head when he laid his eyes on Suga:

"Suga-san, you too?"

Trying to stifle his own laughter, Suga began to calm down the others. "Sorry, sorry ... I just like Yamaguchi's fierce side."

"I don't. He's too much like me, it gives me the creeps. And you, you phone stealing traitor, I'm not done with you yet!" He said, turning back to Yams before Ukai stepped in to end their conversation:

"Traitor or not, you can settle it on the court. Now let's go, 10 laps outside, last two to get back have to set up net!"

Tsukki sighed, still reluctant to run around at morning practice. Before putting his phone away on the bench, he opened the conversation again for just a second to see if she replied, but there was nothing below his last message:

"By the way ... where did you buy the case for your tablet? The art on it is really amazing ... at least I think so."

_Hmm ... maybe I went a bit too far with that. Is it weird if a stranger compliments your tablet case? Eh, why am I even thinking this? I just have to give the tablet back to her, it's not like we're friends or anything. Though ... I could use some normal friends with Yamaguchi running around like that. And if she likes dinosaurs too ..._

 

~~~

 

Between the soccer club's morning practice, school classes, the afternoon practice and all the homework, I didn't have any time to check my phone at all and so Tsukishima's message was to remain unseen until later that evening:

Seeing that our dad was already home, I called out to him as soon as I entered the house: "How come you're this early?"

He waved to me from the living room, sitting on the sofa and reading the daily newspaper. "I only had a few meetings today. They're still digging in Hokkaido, but it doesn't look like there will be any more bones soon. That one giant Hadrosaurid skeleton might've been the last good find - I'm not complaining though, it's gonna be one hell of an exhibition piece once we get it ready!"

I chuckled, sitting down next to him. "You speak as if you're still on the archaeology restoration team! You should act more bossy and corporate like - you're the director of the museum for heaven's sake!"

He laughed, patting my head. "Oh my, would you look at that! Whoever says you don't have what it takes to manage a soccer team clearly hasn't seen you talk back to your father yet."

"Was I too rude? I'm sorry ..."

"Never. You're too sweet to seriously offend anyone."

I shrugged my shoulders, standing back up from the sofa: "I'll go grab something to eat from the kitchen. The team went to get ramen together, but they shouldn't take long. You want something too?"

"No, I'm fine. I had dinner on the way home. I would have brought you some, but I thought you were gonna join the boys like usual."

"After surviving that sport meet up? No thanks, I'm too tired."

"Hopefully not to tired to draw! We're gonna need a few new posters, if you're up for it ..."

_Ugh ... now of all times?!!_

I took my time making a sandwich for myself before I returned to the living room. "Gladly, but ... is there a specific theme or do you think you could use some of my older pieces?"

"As long as it has dinosaurs and it's from you, I think the PR department will be fine with it. Why you ask? Running low on ideas?"

I slumped my shoulders. "No ... but I've had an unfortunate accident. You know the tablet I got as my first ever salary when the museum first used my art?"

"Don't tell me you broke it?!"

"No, no! I didn't. I forgot it in Sendai, but luckily, someone found it and contacted me. He's gonna give it back to me the next time I'm there - but that's not until the end of the month, so I can't really draw much now."

"That's good. Be careful meeting with a stranger though, okay?"

I laughed a little: "Dad, I have the whole soccer team with me - the only thing that can harm me is a ball."

"I was just joking. I have to be a little overprotective here and there, you know? But honestly, I'm just surprised the one who found it decided to return it ... many people would have just kept it these days."

I eagerly nodded. "Yes! And he went through a lot of trouble to contact me too. We talked a little and he just generally seems like a polite and honorable person. I still have no idea how to thank him properly though ..."

"Get him some kind of present."

"Yeah, but I have no idea what he might like! Well, he's a first year student, just like me ... and his profile picture is a dinosaur, so I assume he likes dinosaurs too?"

Hearing that, dad looked up from his newspaper, gazing at me with a plotting grin across his face.

I started back at him, confused for a moment: "Wait ... are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so."

"But - that's too much to ask of you!"

He laughed, patting my head again. "Not at all, I'm the director after all - am I not? Now, you should go to bed soon, I'll wait up to give your brother an earful when he comes back."

I jumped up from the sofa and headed to my room, stopping at the door to say goodnight: "Then ... it's a deal?"

He nodded. "Just give me his name and I'll get it done in a few days."

"It's Kei Tsukishima. Thanks, dad!"

 

When I finally made it to my room, I leapt onto my bed and took out my phone. I went through messages from my classmates and friends before finally noticing Tsukishima's last message. As I read it, an unexpected blush spread across my face.

_Did he ... did he just say he thinks the art on my case is amazing? That's ... wow. I know I get compliments all the time, but this is completely different ... he doesn't even know I drew that picture ... so he must really mean it when he says it's amazing!_

I couldn't help but smile as I replied:

"I had it custom-made ... and about the art ... I drew that."

Right away, I saw him typing a reply and a strange feeling of excitement began dwelling inside of me as I sat in the darkness of my room, waiting for his next message.


	5. Chapter 5

Only seconds later, my phone beeped again and Tsukishima's new message popped up on my screen:

"Really? That's ... really incredible! It's kind of special. I can't really put my finger on it, but the Apatosaurus ... it looks like it's smiling."

"Yes! That's what I tried to do! And I'm surprised you know it's an Apatosaurus, most people think it's a Diplodocus."

"I thought so too, but it's really not that hard to see the difference."

"Right? The neck and muscle structure are completely different!"

"You're right. I don't get why people can't see that. It's really simple."

Before I realized, I found myself smiling at the calm and simple way he wrote his messages. Just as I was about to ask if he's a dinosaur fan like me, he sent another message:

"Oh - I apologize if I went overboard with the dino stuff. My best friend says I scare people away because I'm too much of a dino nerd."

_So he DOES like them just as much as I do!_

"Don't apologize for that! I love dinosaurs more than anything - I'm actually thinking about studying archaeology, but that's still a few years away, so I don't really know ..."

It took a while before he replied this time, but his next message made me smile even more:

"I'm sure you would do great in archaeology, but have you ever considered being a professional artist? I mean ... I only saw one of your drawings, and I usually don't get emotionally attached to things, but ... I have to admit, I've been staring at it whenever I've had the chance. It makes me feel peaceful and happy. You're really talented. And you have a good style too. Now that I think of it, it kinda reminds me of some posters I saw at the Fukui museum - so that definitely means you're good at drawing!"

Safe to say, I was a little shocked as well when he mentioned the museum.

"You've been to the museum already?"

"Yes, a lot of times. Why?"

"Just asking ... it's kind of far, isn't it? With you being in Miyagi and all ..."

"Makes no difference to me. My mom works for the railway so I get to ride trains really cheap and the Fukui museum is just amazing! I've seen some exhibitions over and over again and they still amaze me. And the gift shop just keeps getting better and better as well! The fossils were enough already, but when they got those posters last year, that was the cherry on top of the cake!"

"Before ... when you compared my art, you meant it's like the gift shop posters?"

"Yes. The ones that are smaller versions of other exhibition posters - those are incredible! I have all of them on my wall."

_Wow ... I can't believe this._

My fingers trembled slightly as I continued to type: "Could you ... maybe take a picture of your wall?"

A few seconds later, he sent me a photo of the 6 posters aligned neatly above his bed.

"Here it is. Why did you want it?"

I couldn't reply right away - I was too busy staring at the photo he sent me: sure enough, they were my very first commissions I drew for the museum a year ago.

_This is surreal ... I was so excited to have them sold as souvenirs, I've even watched people buy them ... but to actually talk with someone who has the complete set on his wall ... this is unbelievable._

Probably worried about my lack of response, he sent another message soon after:

"Hey, did something happen?"

"No ... I mean yes ... I'm speechless, actually."

"Why?"

"Those posters ... I drew them."

After a long pause, he finally replied:

"You're kidding me."

"I'm not! My dad's the director of the museum and he showed some of my work to the PR department last year and then they offered me the chance to design for them! The tablet was what I initially got paid for those 6 designs ... plus a part from the souvenir sales too."

"I can't believe it. That's amazing. It's amazing!"

I chuckled. "What's amazing is your lack of vocabulary!"

"I apologize. I'm so shocked, I have no better words. I'm not usually the one with a limited vocabulary though, there's another spot on our team for that."

"Wait, that's right, I never asked you what sport you play!"

"Volleyball. You?"

"Oh, hell nope! I couldn't do sports even if I wanted to. I'm a manager for my brother's soccer club. It used to be temporary since their last manager quit, but I'm not sure about the temporary part anymore - it feels like they just took me as one of their own. Well, having a third year brother who's also the captain certainly helped, but they're still a bunch of scary guys! Is your volleyball team like that as well?"

"No ... we have that one guy with a poor vocabulary whose only insult is dumbass, two really loud small guys that cover the air and the floor respectively, one really loud big guy, one that's also really big but afraid of everything, one that's sweet and calm, a few guys that are kinda mellow but reliable when you need them, and my best friend who isn't a very good player but he has one special thing that no one else can do and he can score 5 points in a row against even the strongest teams! So there's no one that's really scary, except ..."

"Except?"

"Uhm ... I've never told this to anyone, but I guess it's okay if it's you ... our captain is very intimidating when he's angry, and he's never gotten angry at me, but I'm actually really scared of him when he's mad."

"That's ... kind of adorable, actually. But I have a question for you, Kei Tsukishima: you told me what kind of guys you have on your team, but what kind of guy are you?"

"Me? I'm not that interesting. I'm the tallest on the team, but I lack strength, I'm bad at receiving the ball and I haven't found the proper conviction to play until very recently. I like to think I'm a smart and analytical player, but in all honesty, when the best overall player starts aiming serves at you, being smart doesn't really help much. I have a lot of areas left to improve in, I know that ... but it's kinda fun, being with this team."

"I bet they like having you with them as well!"

"I'm not sure ... I've never told them that. I don't talk a lot and even when I do, I'm pretty sarcastic."

"I don't believe that - you're not like that at all!"

"Well ... it's different with you ... I can talk about dinosaurs, I don't get to do that usually."

"It's fun, isn't it? So, Kei Tsukishima, which dino is your favorite?"

"Can you please not call me by my full name? But - as generic as it sounds - it's a Stegosaurus."

"What else am I supposed to call you? Wait, I'll think of a really cool nickname! And really? No way, that's my favorite as well!"

"Is that why you have one in your profile photo?"

"Yes! And I also have a plush one on my bed."

"Me too! I've had it ever since I was a kid."

"Then why don't you take a selfie with it and make that your profile photo? Why do you have this T-Rex instead?"

"My best friend set that for me, it was a funny story actually ...."

 

We kept texting back and forth and hours just flew by. I don't remember the last time I ever smiled as much as I did that night ... but back then, I didn't even notice how my heartbeat got slowly faster as I grew more and more impatient waiting for his next message. I grew up completely immersed in my dad's love for dinosaurs, but all of my friends got out of the dino trend years ago: Tsukishima was the first person my age I got to know who still loved dinosaurs with the same passion as I did ... to me, that was something incredible on its own, but the fact that he also loved my drawings made me happier than I thought it could've.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day, Yamaguchi carefully made his way through the 3rd year hallways to Daichi's classroom during lunch break.

"Captain?" He called out to him at the door.

"Wha- oh, it's you. I'll be right there." Daichi said, standing up from his seat to leave the classroom together with Yams. They stopped outside in the hall where Daichi leaned against the wall before finally asking: "So, any news? Is he sick or something?"

Yams uncomfortably shrugged his shoulders. "I ... I don't really know."

"Did he come to school?"

"Yes, but ... he was almost late for the first period and when I went to ask him why he missed morning practice, he ... uhm ... he was asleep."

Daichi's eyes widened: "Tsukishima? Sleeping in class?!"

Yams nodded. "We had English and Literature classes so far and he slept through all of them ... though as silent as he usually is, I'm not surprised no one noticed it. "

"Ah ... this is really weird. I don't know what to make of it! Thank you for coming to tell me though, you should go back now before someone draws something on his face."

Yams smiled before turning away and walking back to his classroom.

"Don't worry, they won't. I put his headphones on his head when no one was looking, now he looks just like he does any other lunch break: sulking over his table with that "don't come near me" aura around him!"

 

It was about the same time when Yams got back to his classroom that Tsukki finally woke up. Confused, he stared at the proverbs on the blackboard before finally noticing his best friend standing next to him. He expected a funny joke or a pat on the shoulder, but Yamaguchi's cheerful smile was nowhere to be found. Instead, he pulled up a chair to Tsukki's table and sat down next to him with a worried expression on his face:

"Hey ... what happened? You missed morning practice, are you okay?"

_Yeah, I did miss it ... damn. I don't even know how it happened, all I remember is talking with her and then the next thing I know, I opened my eyes and it was already bright outside! It's not like I can tell him that though, he'll think I went crazy._

"I'm fine, Yamaguchi. I just ... couldn't fall asleep last night and then I overslept in the morning. I'm sorry. Is Daichi mad at me?"

"He's not, I just went to see him before you woke up. He's just worried about you, that's all."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I really am fine."

Yamaguchi stood up with a dubious look on his face: "If you say so, I guess ... I'm going to the cafeteria now, want anything?"

"A strawberry muffin, if they still have them." Tsukki replied slowly, watching as Yams left the classroom. Once his best friend was gone, he took out his phone and looked at last night's conversation, the last message of which was sent a little after 4 in the morning.

_How ... how did we even get here?_

He slowly scrolled through the messages: from volleyball to soccer to art and, of course, dinosaurs - there was everything.

_I don't remember the last time I talked so much with anyone. But it was kinda ... fun?_

Before he realized, he was already typing a new message:

"Hey ... I'm sorry I didn't reply earlier. I think I probably fell asleep!"

It wasn't until after he sent the message that he saw she was online as well, already typing a reply:

"It's okay! I fell asleep too, my brother had to drag me out of bed in the morning and I have no idea what went on during morning practice at all! I'm so sleepy!"

"You're luckier than me then, I completely overslept. Forget morning practice, I barely even made it to class on time. And then I think I fell asleep until now."

"You missed practice?! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have kept you up so long!"

"No, it's okay! Talking to you was ... really fun. I don't mind losing sleep because of it."

"Same. Then, I guess this is okay with you?"

Right after she typed that, Tsukki's phone showed a new friend request notification. His face lit up with a smile as he pressed "accept" before going back to reply:

"Of course it is, I completely forgot about it! I thought I added you already."

"Haha, you haven't. I have to go now, our break is ending soon. But I'll be back as soon as I can in the afternoon!"

"Deal - if I survive the afternoon practice, that is."

 

When Yamaguchi returned, he almost dropped the food he brought at the sight of Tsukki smiling into his phone.

"Wha-What's going on?"

Startled, Tsukki looked up at him.

"Nothing."

"Come on, I know you better than that! You never smile!"

"That's mean, Yamaguchi. Is Kageyama rubbing off on you?"

"No, I got that from you! Now tell me what's up."

Fiddling with his phone in his hands, Tsukki pondered whether he should tell the truth or not.

_Well, what can I do - he's my best friend after all. It's not like it's a secret or anything._

"I think I made a new friend," he said, handing his phone to Yams to show him the conversation. "She's really incredible! Remember the art on the tablet case? She drew that! And the posters I have in my room, she drew those too! Her dad is the director of the Fukui museum and she's been doing art commission for them since last year! I couldn't believe it at first! But on top of all that, she still has the time to be a manager for her brother's soccer team, even though she doesn't know sports at all! She's kinda like Takeda sensei, I suppose ..."

For the rest of the break, Yamaguchi watched in awe as his best friend went on and on about this apparently wonderful person whom he hasn't even met yet.

"Who would have thought ..." he mumbled under his breath. "Truly, who would have thought."

 

~~~

 

When my lunch break ended, I really hoped I'd have time to message Tsukishima in the afternoon, but once again, I was too busy to even look at my phone until I got home in the evening. I ate dinner in a hurry, took a shower and jumped on my bed with my phone in hand, silently promising to myself I wouldn't stay up that long today.

I might not have had time for him until then, but he apparently did because when I opened our conversation, I had two unread messages from him already:

"Just finished practice. The captain really wasn't mad at me!"

And a bit later:

"I had lunch with my mom and my brother and neither of them noticed I overslept in the morning. Lucky me."

Before I knew it, I found myself giggling.

_Why does hearing such random details about his day make me kind of happy? He's so awkward at talking through messages as soon as dinosaurs are not the topic of conversation!_

With a smile still remaining on my face, I replied:

"I didn't have the time to say hi in the afternoon ... even though I said I would. But I'm glad you got away with being late!"

"It's okay, really ... I did all my homework and cleaned my room while waiting for your message, so at least I've been kind of productive."

"You've been waiting for my message?"

"Yes. Was I not supposed to?"

"I didn't think you would ..."

Once again, it took a while before he replied to that:

"I didn't think I would either. But talking with you ... how do I put it ... it makes me happy?"

"Same ... actually, I've been waiting to talk with you again too! Especially because I have some news!"

"News?"

"Yes! I officially picked a nickname for you."

"How bad is it?"

"It's a perfect choice. 10/10."

"Don't I get to comment on that?"

"No. Now, drum roll please!!! ... Tsukki."

"What?!"

"I'm gonna call you Tsukki. You know, like the moon."

"Okay ..."

"Wait, you actually don't like it?"

"Uhm ... never mind. It's okay. You can call me that if you want!"

Laughing and joking, we continued messaging into the night, both agreeing to go to sleep much earlier this time - yet when the time came to say goodnight, I felt somehow reluctant to end the conversation ... and secretly, I wondered if maybe he felt the same way.


	7. Chapter 7

As the weeks went by, I kept thinking how different human and dinosaurs are: the dinos went extinct because they couldn't adapt to a change in the climate, yet us humans seem to adapt to anything life throws at us with lightning speed - I had first-hand proof of that now. Before I first talked to Tsukki, I could never imagine messaging someone pretty much all the time, waiting for the reply and smiling into my phone at each new message, but all those things seemed more than natural to me by now. In no time, I got used to this change of pace in my every day life ... or maybe, it was Tsukki I got used to.

A month passed and in no time, the night before my team's next trip to Sendai was here. I was never the one to pay much attention to what I took with me on road trips, but this time, I checked twice to make sure I put the gifts I had for Tsukki in my backpack.

_I hope he'll like them. I really, really hope he'll like them! It's nothing much though ... I still have ways to go before I can properly thank him for finding my tablet._

I looked at the time on my phone, staring at the screen for a while.

_I finally get to meet him tomorrow ... I can't wait ... I have too many fantasies about what he might look like already!_

I fiddled around on my phone, but no matter what I was doing, I kept coming back to either our Facebook conversation or our text messages.

_Come to think of it, I don't even remember when we exchanged phone numbers - it feels like I've had his since forever! He's not online, but I wonder if I should text him? No, he's probably already asleep. Or maybe ..._

In the spur of the moment, I pressed the call button next to his name and brought the phone up to my ears. I giggled as it rang for a while without him picking up.

_I'm such a silly idiot, of course he's asleep. What would I even say if he answered it? Hahaha, I really do the most pointless things sometimes._

While I was musing over my random ideas, something clicked on the line and suddenly, the beeping in my ear stopped as I was greeted with a confused, mildly deep voice:

"H-Hey?"

_Holy shit, he picked up. Oh my, I was not prepared for this!_

"Ugh ... uhm ... hi!"

I heard the rustling sound of sheets as he probably moved around in his bed before answering: "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

"No, nothing! I'm fine, I just ... randomly called you for no reason. I'm so sorry for waking you up!"

"You didn't wake me up." He said, laughing.

_Wow ... his voice is angelic! And the way he laughs ... I never imagined it would sound so cute!_

"I didn't?! Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's not that late yet ... not to mention that I can't fall asleep at all."

"Why not?"

He laughed again, but this time, it sounded more like a sigh: "I don't know ... I think ... It's because I'm meeting you tomorrow."

Hearing him say that left me absolutely speechless. "Tsukki ..."

"What? Don't make fun of me, I'm nervous!"

"I wasn't gonna make fun of you ... because I'm nervous too. It's so weird!"

"It is."

"Even though we've never met before, for some reason ... I feel like you're closer to me than most people are, if that makes sense?"

"I know what you mean ... at least I think so."

"But you know, you have an unfair advantage!"

"I do?"

"Well, yeah! You know how I look like, yet I have no idea about you ... except for the fact that you're tall."

"Heh, what can I say. I don't suppose I'm much to look at so don't get your hopes up or something."

"Still ... I doubt that T-Rex in your profile photo is doing you justice."

"What proof do you have that I'm not actually a very intelligent T-Rex?"

"Uhm, your arms would be too short for texting?" I said, trying not to laugh too loud at the serious tone with which he asked me that.

He paused for a while before speaking again: "Hey ... stupid question, but ... do you often laugh like that when you're talking to me?"

"Yes ... I think so ... I don't really notice it anymore, to be honest. Why?"

"Nothing ... I was just thinking that I like your laughter ... and I hope I can hear more of it."

"Tsukki ..."

He chuckled at my lack of a good response. "I really did say something stupid, didn't I? You know, you should go to sleep now ... you guys have a long drive ahead of you tomorrow."

"I ... I guess you're right. I'll go then. See you tomorrow, right?"

"Right. And wish your brother good luck in the match. Goodnight then ... I'll see you soon."

He hung up right after, but his last words echoed in my head over and over again until I finally managed to fall asleep.

_I'll see you soon ... see you soon ... see you ... Tsukki ... that's right ... I get to see Tsukki tomorrow ..._

 

_~~~_

 

After what felt like forever, my rowdy soccer idiots finally won their first match of the day. Even as I walked back to their dressing room together with the coach as he went over the schedule for the rest of the day before the afternoon match, time still seemed to go by too slowly for me.

"Guys, we're coming in!" I shouted before throwing the dressing room doors wide open, letting the coach go in before me.

Picking up my backpack, I stood silently as I watched him compliment and critique the guys: "Great stamina, boys, great stamina. You did a good job defending those penalties, we need a little more speed on the outer right though, and where was the defense in the first half?! Your goal was wide open, you're lucky your goalie's a genius!"

In the middle of his speech, my brother suddenly showed up by my side, whispering silently as not to disturb the coach: "You can go now, you know?"

"Okay, I will then." I smiled as I turned to leave before he tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey, I'm not done yet - I was gonna tell you that you have the whole afternoon off - if you want to."

"Wha-"

"Shush. I made some arrangements, we'll do just fine on our own." He said, winking at me. "Come on, you think I didn't notice how badly you've been wanting to meet this guy? Now go, you can thank your awesome brother later."

With that, I was out the door. Without a second thought, I ran through the hallways of the Sendai Gym towards the back yard of the complex where I first forgot my tablet ... and where Tsukki and I agreed to meet.

_Just one more corner ... I'm almost there._

I slowed down my pace to a fast walk as my nerves started getting the better of me. In the next moment, the back yard was in my full view and I didn't even have to look around to see a guy sitting on the bench, listening to music with my tablet sitting safely in his lap. He noticed me right away, standing up and taking off his headphones as I walked towards him. At that point, one of us should have probably said hello or something ... but we just stood there, staring at each other in silence. Safe to say, I was completely taken aback with the scene before my eyes.

_He's ... he's really tall, just like he said ... but ... but ... I never knew he was blonde! Or that he wore glasses! He said he wasn't much to look at - are you kidding me?! He's drop dead gorgeous!!_


	8. Chapter 8

Taking note of our silence at almost the same time, we both blushed a bit, but I was the first to finally speak: "It's great to finally see you, Tsukki ..." Funny enough, even as I said that, I still couldn't take my eyes off of him.

"Same ... I've been looking forward to it." He said, slowly fixing his glasses. "Uhm ... is there something wrong with my face? You're really obviously staring at me, you know ..."

Embarrassed, I laughed at his poor interpretation. "Well, I'm really surprised! I imagined you had black hair for some reason ... and you never told me you wore glasses!"

He ran a hand through his short hair before taking off his glasses in confusion. "Do they look that bad?"

"No, that's not what I meant! Put them back on, you idiot! They look really good on you, I mean ... you look really good in them. If you still insist on being a T-Rex, then you're the most good-looking T-Rex I've ever seen."

"Thank you ... but you're hardly one to talk. Your profile photo doesn't do you justice either, you're even more beautiful in person. At least that's what I think." He said, looking to the ground before finishing the sentence. "Anyway, here's your tablet. I hope nothing happened to it before I found it."

I took it from his hands and carefully looked around the edges, but there wasn't a single scratch anywhere. "It's fine ... thank you again! Actually, I brought a few things for you, just something so I can thank you properly ... so do me a favor, close your eyes and hold your hands in front of you!" I went on rambling as I opened my backpack and sat it on the bench. I quickly put the tablet away and took out his two presents, sticking them into his open palm before I took a step back and told him to open his eyes.

He immediately looked down, first picking up the lanyard with his other hand, dangling it around in front of his face. "What's this? It has my name on it ..."

I stepped closer to him, turning the lanyard around to show him the back side of the plastic card attached to it. "It's the full visitor's pass to the Fukui Dinosaur Museum - at least that's what it's officially called, but I prefer to call it the uber VIP ticket!"

"Wha-What does it do?"

"Free admission to the museum and any special individual exhibitions or events. Also applies to the outside dino park. And the best part? It lasts forever!"

"Forever?!" His eyes lit up as if he were a kid who just heard there's gonna be an eternal Christmas.

I nodded, pulling my own lanyard out of my backpack. "See, I have the same one- except for the fact that mine also has security clearance so that I can come and visit my dad whenever I want. And I can get into all sorts of closed areas with it too!"

"This is ... amazing! Are you sure it's okay for me to have it?"

"Definitely - it was my dad's idea to begin with, so I feel kinda lame about it. But the other thing is fully my doing, I promise!"

"Oh, I almost forgot I was still holding this!" He said, glancing at the frame I placed in his hand moments before.

_Please ... I hope he likes it ... I could've done better, but it's been so long since I've drawn anything with pastels ... I almost regret it now._

As I grew increasingly nervous, he slowly read the note I wrote on the back: "For Tsukki - thank you so much for everything!" He then turned the frame around, revealing the picture of a sleeping Stegosaurus under the moonlight that I drew for him.

It was a small, simple picture. I tried my best, but I wasn't nearly happy enough with it - I just ran out of time to re-do it before giving it to him. I didn't think much of it, but he apparently had a different opinion because for a good few minutes, I could watch the shock and surprise on his face slowly get replaced by admiration as he stared at the picture with his mouth gaping open.

"Tsukki? Are you okay?"

Still shaken, he looked at me. "Yes, I just .... you drew this for me?"

"Yes. I hope you like it!"

"Like it? Are you kidding me? It's amazing! I absolutely love it! I've never gotten anything so beautiful in my whole life! I'll always treasure it, I promise!"

"Tsukki, it's fine ... it's not that special, really!"

He vigorously shook his head at my attempt to calm him down. "Don't say that about your art! I don't care if it's a poster or just a small drawing, it's still your art - and your art is extremely special, all of it!"

"Thank you ... so much."

"You deserve it. Wow ... really, I didn't expect anything like this! Now I kinda feel bad though ..."

"Why?"

"Because I was gonna ask you for a favor before you gave me this ... and now I'm pretty sure that would be asking too much."

"Not at all, what did you want?"

He turned to the bag he had lying on the bench - a simple, over the shoulder type of school bag. One after the other, he took out six rolled up sheets of paper and a black marker, stuttering slightly as he turned back to me: "I-I was gonna ask you to sign these ... if that's okay with you."

I took the marker from his hands and reached for the first paper roll. "Tsukki, don't tell me these are - Wait, these really are ..."

"Your posters, yes."

"Tsukki!" I turned to him with a surprised look.

"What? I made a point of having the whole set ... so I don't see why I wouldn't want to have the artist sign them for me too."

"You're ... that's ... I'm really honored."

"Don't be. If anything, I'm the one who should feel honored to know you."

We sat down, chatted and laughed as I signed the posters. Being with him, hearing his laughter and seeing his adorable smile felt so natural to me, as if we were some kind of childhood friends and not strangers who've just seen each other for the first time today.

After a while, he looked at the time on his phone and stood up. "It's been a while already, you'll be late ..." He said with an almost tangible sadness in his voice.

"Actually ... I know I said I wouldn't have much time, but my brother got me off the hook for the afternoon match, he said they'll manage on their own ... so I kinda have time until 9 in the evening. Wanna go for coffee or something? Or maybe get something to eat?"

He carefully put the posters back into his bag before he looked at his phone once again. "I'd love to, but I don't know any places in Sendai. However ... yes, I was right, we'll be just on time!"

"On time for what?"

Before I could ask anything else, he took my hand and started running. I was surprised and confused, but I still followed him to the front of the gym complex where a bus just arrived at the station across the street.

"Perfect!" He yelled out, yanking me after him once again.

In no time, we were on the bus and he already paid for my ticket before I even had the chance to budge in.

"Where are we going?"

"My home town - it's just 20 minutes away and there's a bus every half an hour so don't worry, we have plenty of time to get back."

"I wasn't worrying at all!" I said smiling at him.

"I hope you'll have fun - I can show you my school, and our gym, and my house, of course. Also, my mom made chicken and rice today, there's always food that gets left over now that my brother's in college so you're more than welcome! Or I can take you to a ramen shop, we have one that's kinda decent."

I couldn't help but laugh at his heartfelt enthusiasm. "Home made chicken is my favorite, actually! And I know I'll have fun, I mean ... I'm hanging out with you!"

We talked effortlessly for the rest of the bus ride, even getting so distracted that neither of us noticed he was still holding my hand. Did that suddenly become a natural thing too? It might have, because we walked all around his town, from the famous Karasuno high school to his home, still holding hands. We had lunch together, he showed me his room, I helped him put the posters back up and watched as he frantically made room on his desk to set my drawing next to his laptop. I didn't think it was possible to spend so much time just talking to someone, but in a heart beat, it was already evening.

I thought he was just gonna walk me to the station, but when the Sendai bus came, he got on right behind me.

"Huh? You're coming with me?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I shouldn't let you walk around alone, it's dark already."

I nodded, staring through the window as the scenery flew by. Contrary to the rest of our day, the ride back to Sendai was strangely quiet ... uncomfortably quiet even. When we got off the bus, I turned to him, trying to find the right words to say.

_This is it ... I have my tablet back ... I thanked him ... I did everything I said I would do, so why ... why do I suddenly feel so desperate? I don't want to leave ... I have no idea if I'll ever see him again! After all, I have no real reason to see him, do I?_

Amidst all that, his name was all I could utter: "Tsukki ..."

He raised his head, looking at me.

Before I knew it, I hugged him out of nowhere. "Tsukki ... thank you for today!"

Slowly, I felt his arms wrap around my back as he returned the hug. "I could say the same."

"Next time .... next time you go to the museum, will you come visit me?"

He nodded, whispering in my ear: "Of course I'll visit you. I ... I could hardly stand not seeing you ever again. We're friends, right? Friends visit each other every now and then, don't they?"

I was on the verge of crying, but his words suddenly made me feel better.

_That's right ... it doesn't have to end here. We're not just strangers anymore ... we haven't been strangers for a while now. How could I not have noticed? We're friends ... precious to each other and fun to hang around with it. That's right - Tsukki is precious to me ..._

We waved goodbye with bitter smiles before I went off to join my team and he got back on the bus home. In theory, that should have been the one and only time I met the guy who happened to find my lost tablet. It shouldn't mean anything.

But it did mean something.

And it was far from the last time we saw each other.


	9. Chapter 9

In a way, nothing had changed since that day: we still talked to each other all the time, laughed at each other's silly messages and got excited about anything even remotely dinosaur-related. But then again, a lot of things were different as well, starting with his profile picture: a few days after our first meeting, I was surprised to see the infamous T-Rex was gone and replaced by an awkward selfie of Tsukki with a plush Stegosaurus on top of his head.

"Where did that come from?!" was the first thing I could think to send him after I was done laughing at how adorable he looked.

"A certain someone was upset with the T-Rex. And the same certain someone suggested this a while ago."

"I told to you to take a selfie with it, I didn't think you'd put it on like a hat!"

"I think it's a good hat. I came here to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now!"

"You poor thing!"

"Ouch. Both of my best friends are starting to be mean to me!"

"I fully support Yamaguchi's sentiment - teasing you is strangely fun!"

"Please, don't take after him ... next thing I know, you're gonna brag about me to anyone who passes by."

"Heh, it's not like they don't ask about my friend from Miyagi all the time already. You're virtually a celebrity among my classmates."

"I'll blame you for it."

"Don't! My brother was the one who ran his mouth about the "tall blonde volleyball pro" his sister knows."

"Pro? We're only going to the nationals ..."

"Only going to the nationals? ONLY??! Oh I don't think that's an only!"

"You can praise us when we win, I'll give you that."

 

Despite jokingly making fun of him at times, I couldn't deny what he said - we really were best friends. That was why I eventually took the same kind of selfie with my Stego plushie and set it as my profile photo, why I looked forward to the evenings when we both had enough time to call each other and talk over the phone where I could actually hear his voice, why I got so excited when he came visit me a week later, and when I visited him the week after that ... Well, at least I thought our friendship was the reason.

I tried to convince him to let me go to Miyagi more often, but he insisted he hates the idea of me being alone on trains for so long - still, the few times I went to visit him were incredibly fun! I met his mom and brother, he introduced me to the volleyball team and I liked all of the guys almost right away, surprised by how simply and accurately he first described them. There were so many different, complementing personalities mixed in the Karasuno bunch ... yet to me, none of them stood out as much as Tsukki himself. I knew that meeting my soccer idiots probably wouldn't be as fun for him, but I took him to one of their practices regardless and to my surprise, they even managed to convince him to play together with them! It was quite a rare sight to see: his legs were thin in comparison to everyone else's, but his running stamina was just as high as the rest of the team's and he was taller than even our third years. He had no idea how to kick the ball accurately or how to avoid it being taken away from him, but that just made it more fun for me to watch. However, the most surprising thing of all was how well he got along with my crazy brother: I knew dad and Tsukki would get along perfectly, but Tsukki and my brother? I never would have imagined they apparently had the same taste in music!

I always thought it must be hard to say goodbye to someone over and over again - and it was. Every time we stood at one station or the other in the evening, no matter which one of us was getting on the train, I felt like a part of me stayed with him ... and another part wanted to keep him close to me. Our goodbyes were made just a tad bit easier by the fact that I knew I'd see him again soon, but even that luck ran out eventually:

It was a cold, snowy evening in late December when I stood outside the Katsuyama station with him as we waited for his train. The whole day, he seemed unusually quiet and in that moment, I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed a fist of snow off the nearby fence and chucked it at his shoulder.

Surprised, he looked up at me. "What was that for?"

"For not saying anything for the last fifteen minutes."

"Sorry."

"Come on, Tsukki ... you've been weird ever since I saw you in the morning. What's wrong?"

He sighed and bit his lip, looking back to the ground. After a while, he mumbled with a low voice: "The Nationals start in January and we'll be having intensive practice from now on. Which means all Saturdays and Sundays. Which means ..."

He stuttered, his voice cracking a little before he looked back up at me.

"... I don't know when I'll get to see you again. I'm sorry."

_Of course ... I should've guessed he'd be busier once the Nationals roll around. It's not like I feel good about it either, but I can't bear to see him so discouraged._

I took his hand, squeezing it tight. "Hey, you better get the most out of all the extra practice! And you better kick some ass in Tokyo! We'll see each other again once the tournament is over, right? Though ... I can't say I won't miss you."

He smiled before tugging on my hand, pulling me into his arms: "Come here ... don't miss me, you idiot, you have better things to do. Draw, or go see the New Year's Fossil Exhibition again, or get the soccer team to finally stop kicking the ball to your pretty face ... or whatever else. Just don't miss me, okay? It would be a waste to trouble your wonderful smile with that."

Wrapping my arms around his back as his train pulled to the station, I nodded with my head pressed to his chest, but I was lying.

_How can you expect me not to miss you ... as if that's not all I do when you're not with me! I know you'll do your best out there, I know I'll see you again in a few weeks, but ... but ... right now, I just don't want to let you go._

The rest of the evening went by almost in slow motion: the train stopping at the station, Tsukki tossing my hair around as he patted my head before slowly letting go of me, watching him get on the train and wave goodbye until he was out of sight, walking home alone and laying down on my bed ... none of it felt real, it just felt like a bad fairy tale gone wrong.

That night, I cried myself to sleep ... and deep down in my heart, I knew well enough that I wasn't crying because of a friend.


	10. Chapter 10

Even with all the volleyball related work he had, he still found the time to message me or call me here and there ... but nowhere near as often as he used to before the Nationals. I tried my best to accept that, but my heart simply didn't want to. I listened to his complaints about how much they had to run in the morning, I smiled each time he sent me a selfie of him with the guys after practice, I watched their first game on TV when the time came ... but no matter what I did, I couldn't stop missing him.

My brother being a good older sibling, he naturally tried his best to cheer me up. He ran past me in the kitchen one Saturday morning as I was making myself a bowl of cereal, almost knocking the milk off the counter while flapping his arms around like a T-Rex.

"What are you doing and why are you up so early? Shouldn't you be sleeping until noon?"

"I'm pretending to be a dinosaur, thank you very much. And I'm going out, we're gonna play the new FIFA game with the guys."

"Sure, have fun."

"Oh, look at you all sad and droopy! Come on, when's the blondie's next match?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "They had one yesterday, but he hasn't texted me since Thursday, so I don't know ..."

"Eh, the tournament is almost over anyway. You don't need to save lunch for me, I'll get ramen or something. See ya!"

With that, he was out the door. I thought I was finally gonna have some peace and quiet, but a few minutes later, I heard the door open again as he yelled down the hallway:

"Sorry, I forgot my keys at practice - can you lock the door once you're done eating?"

"I will, no problem." I said just loud enough for him to hear me.

After he slammed the door for the second time, the water I had on the stove finally boiled and with melancholy enveloping me, I took my sweet time making a cup of tea. Once I was done, I took both the tea and the bowl of cereal upstairs to my room, slumping down on the chair in front of my computer. I looked up some cat videos on YouTube and stared aimlessly at the screen while eating my breakfast before the sudden sound of the doorbell yanked my attention away.

_Oh for heaven's sake, what did he come back for this time?! But wait - I forgot to lock the door._

"It's open, you idiot!" I yelled out, getting up from my chair. "I forgot to lock it, sorry, I'll be right there!" I ran out of my room with one foot already down the stairs when I stopped dead in my tracks, seeing who was standing in my hallway.

"Tsukki?!"

He looked up at me, smiling as cute as ever: "H-Hey ... Ukai gave us a day off before the next match tomorrow and I ... I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I wanted to surprise you when I came here."

Both surprised and shocked, I still didn't fully grasp he was actually there. "But ... if you have a day off, you should practice or rest or I don't know, something!"

Slowly, he shook his head. "I don't think I could even if I tried. I missed you too much."

Suddenly, I was able to move my feet again and before I knew, I leapt down the stairs towards him. Barely catching a step with my left foot, I probably would've tumbled straight down if he hadn't been there in the next second, catching me in his arms in the middle of the stairs.

"Tsukki!" I called his name as I wrapped my arms around his back, leaning against him with all I had.

He held me just as tight, brushing my hair away with one of his hands while he whispered in my ear: "You have no idea how much I missed you!"

"I ... I think I do! Being away from you is the worst, it's just ..."

"... unbearable." He finished my sentence, pulling slightly away from our hug to look me in the eyes. "But I'm here now ..." He mumbled, gently running his fingers across my cheek before catching my face in his palm. "... and I'm with you - that's all that matters."

"Tsukki ..."

He closed his eyes, leaning his head back. "Ah ... I'd never think I'd be so happy to hear anyone call me that."

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't utter anything else right now. "Tsukki ..."

He smiled, looking at me again. "I know, I'm talking too much ... I'm sorry."

In the next moment, my current lack of vocabulary was no longer an issue after the warmth of his lips covered mine. He pulled me closer, hugging me tighter than I ever thought was possible: it was a slow, simple kiss, but it took me over completely.

_Tsukki ... I'd hate to admit I already thought about what kissing you would be like ... especially because I never, ever thought it would be so captivating, so overwhelming, so ... so perfect._

No matter how simple, it still seemed to last forever: our lips moved together, gasping for each other more than they gasped for air. In all honesty, we could've drowned in that kiss and I don't think either of us would care.

I was still in a daze when he finally pulled away, leaning his forehead against mine: "That ... was definitely overdue," he whispered, completely out of breath.

Standing there just as breathless as he was, I could do nothing but nod.

"A friend of mine told me once that it only takes one moment to get hooked on something ... and I thought he was right, until I met you. I'm so confused, you know? I ... I honestly have no idea when that moment happened for us! All I know is that I was lying in bed last night and I suddenly realized that I have to see you again right now or I'll lose my mind ... "

I chuckled, pointing to my forehead: "I think I've already lost mine, to be honest. There used to be dinosaurs up here, but now ... it's just you. All the time."

He smiled at me before literally sweeping me off my feet - in the next moment, he was holding me to his chest, still grinning at me like a stray cat.

"Woah, what are you doing?"

As if I were virtually weightless, he shrugged his shoulders and carried me back upstairs to my room. "Nothing. I just thought the staircase wasn't a good place."

"A good place for what?" I asked as he sat me down on the edge of my bed.

"This." He said, kneeling down before me and taking my hand in his.

"Tsukki ..."

He shook his head, putting a finger to my lips. "I just want to tell you ... even if I never figure out in what moment it happened ... maybe it's alright that way. Maybe falling in love with someone doesn't happen in one single moment ... but if it does, I'm fairly certain it's the longest moment ever. All the days we spent together ... there's not a single second there that I wouldn't treasure. There's so much that I still don't understand about us, and all this distance between us isn't doing me any favors, but one thing is absolutely clear to me: I'm in love with you. Every moment, every smile, every drawing, every confused look on your face, every time you teased me, every time you laughed - I love them all. And more than anything else, I want to be the reason you smile. I want to hold you close, I want to kiss you over and over again until I can no longer remember who I was before I kissed you, I want to show you my love every day from here on out until forever and I never, never want to regret letting go of you in a train station ever again. I have no idea how relationships even work but I can imagine having a long distance boyfriend isn't something anyone would want. But no matter if you accept it now, or in ten years, or never ... my heart will still beat for you until I die and join the dinosaurs."

Trying not to cry happy tears, I closed my eyes for a moment before pulling his hand, yanking him onto the bed. "Tsukki, you idiot, get off your knees! You're supposed to do that for a marriage proposal!"

Landing on top of me as I sank into my pillows, his face almost touching mine, his cheeks blushed deeply red: "Oh no ... did I screw up?"

I shook my head, slowly taking the glasses off his face before I kissed him, tasting his lips again and again. "That was the most amazing thing anyone ever said to me. I don't care about the distance ... my heart is with this blonde idiot in Miyagi already anyway."

He laughed, leaning down to kiss me again. "This blonde idiot thought he was smart, you know ... but then you walked by and there went all my common sense, out the window." He rained kisses on my face, tracing from my lips down to my jawline and neck before lying down next to me and wrapping his arms around me. "Do you have any idea what I've been thinking of during the last few matches? It's insane! We're playing against these amazing teams from all over the country, I'm blocking aces left and right yet when I should be thinking about the ball, you're the only thing on my mind!"

"And you think this will change that?" I whispered, staring into the depth of his eyes.

"Not at all ... I should probably just tell Ukai to send in Yamaguchi instead of me tomorrow because I legit don't know how I'll be able to focus on anything else but you."

"Not fair! I'm not letting you run away like that!"

He buried his face in my neck, blowing away loose strands of hair with his warm breath. "Does it look like I'm running away?"

"It doesn't ... and you better not be. I love you, Tsukki - I should've told you that the first time my heart ripped in half when I watched you leave, but actually ... I don't even remember when the first time was anymore. But I promise I'll never stop loving you, whether you're in Miyagi or on the other end of the universe!"

"That's all I need ... all I could ever ask for." He said, kissing me once more. The kiss slowly grew deeper and deeper as neither of us could get enough of the other ... the closeness we felt, the warmth of our bodies together, the happiness surging through both of us with each new touch of our lips ... none of that could ever be enough to say how much we loved each other. With every passing second, I was more and more certain of the feelings that dwelt inside of me for so long:

_He really is perfect for me. We're meant for each other. Tsukki ... you're the love of my life. I have no doubts about that anymore._

Lying in each other's arms, we were too overwhelmed to notice when it started to snow outside. No matter how much I usually loved watching the snowflakes fall down, Tsukki was all I had eyes for now. He said he wanted to make me smile, he said he wanted to make me laugh ... but he already did all that a million times. And the thing he said about kissing me until he forgets who he was before the kiss?

I'm pretty sure neither of us remembered exactly who we were before we confessed our love that day.


	11. Chapter 11

While we were kissing, his phone suddenly started beeping. He sat up on the bed, taking it out of his pocket and staring at the screen for a while.

"Something wrong?" I asked, sitting up beside him.

"No, it was just an alarm. I have to get going now if I don't wanna miss the last train - I set it just in case." He said, slowly standing up and pulling me up with him, wrapping his arms around me again.

I couldn't help but smile. "Hey, Tsukki ..."

"Yes?"

"The next time someone at school asks about my friend from Miyagi, can I tell them he's taken?"

"Of course. I'll say the same for you - though to be honest, Yamaguchi probably blabbed it all out already."

"You told him?"

He blushed, kissing my cheek to hide it. "Well, I ... I asked him for some advice, let's leave it at that. But those lines earlier were all mine, I promise!"

"I definitely believe you."

"You better! I mean, I know he could probably come up with something better to say because he generally talks to people more than I do, but there's no way I'd ever let someone else describe how much I love you ... that's my job."

Watching him smile as we left my room, put on our jackets and walked towards the train station together, I muttered words to myself under my breath: "Thank you."

Even though I thought he couldn't hear me, he did: "What for? I didn't do anything."

"Oh no, that was not for you! I was just thanking myself for losing my tablet ... we kinda wouldn't be here without it."

As the train appeared in the distance, he shook his head. "I don't think you're right. Sure, if you hadn't lost the tablet, we might not be here right now. But I'm certain we'd meet each other in some other way, whether a month later or in forty years."

"What makes you think that?"

He hugged me tight, lightly kissing my lips as tears formed in the corners of his eyes: "Isn't it obvious? You're the love of my life. My soulmate. I don't really believe in fate ... but I also don't believe that life would be so cruel as to not let me meet you."

"Tsukki ..."

"Shush. It's okay. I won't be gone for long, I promise. I'll see you again in no time! So go ahead ... miss me all you want! Just make sure to kiss me enough to make up for it next time." He said as he let go of my hand before stepping on the train.

"Oh ... I most certainly will!" I shouted after him, loud enough so that everyone around could hear me - but I didn't care.

The smiles we had on as we said goodbye were still forced ... watching the train leave into the night was still painful ... but for the first time, it was a peaceful kind of pain. The kind of pain where I had no regrets about feeling it and I knew it would make my heart stronger instead of tearing it apart.

 

~~~

 

It was almost midnight when Tsukki finally got back to their hotel room. Walking in silently so he wouldn't wake up anyone, he stood in the middle of the room for a while, glancing around at all the bunk beds where his precious teammates were already sound asleep before tomorrow's match.

_Precious ... precious ... precious ..._

The word echoed in his mind as his eyes finally landed on Hinata and Kageyama's bunk.

_Damn ... love really is something else. I feel like a completely different person because of her ... I thought she was joking all the times she told me to be more honest with my feelings, but she was right ... I never imagined I could look at those two and think they're precious to me. Or maybe the whole world just generally seems better to me all of a sudden? Heh, it's not like it matters._

"I'm just gonna take a shower and get to sleep," he muttered to himself while picking up the towel from his bed.

"Not so fast!"

As the lights in the room suddenly came on, he jumped around to see Daichi standing by the light switch with a big grin across his face. Startled, he watched as the rest of the team threw their blankets away and ran up to him. "Wait, what is going- Guys! What the heck?!"

"We waited for you. You know, gotta make sure all the kids are home safe!" Suga said, smiling. "Plus, Yamaguchi said you might not be single anymore by the time you come back, what's up with that?"

"You guys totally set me up!" Tsukki yelled out, searching for Yams who successfully hid himself behind Kageyama.

"Get away from me." Kageyama mumbled, pushing him away. "I told you he would hate us for waiting up for him."

At that moment, Tsukki couldn't hold it in anymore. He leaned against the wall, holding his stomach as he started laughing hysterically, tears coming out of his eyes from how much laughter there was.

At the sight of their calm and stoic blocker giggling like a drunken girl, the others quickly fell silent.

Partially immune to shock from all the balls that hit his face in the past, Hinata was the first to pipe up: "Hey ... Stingyshima, is something wrong? You're laughing ..."

Finally pulling himself back together, Tsukki looked up, removing his glasses to wipe away the tears. "No. Nothing's wrong, it's just ... you're amazing, Hinata. Your jump is higher than most people's whole life ambitions. Kageyama, you're just as amazing for giving the best tosses to everyone all the time ... Yamaguchi, you're a whole special category but don't dare think for a second you're not a great player! Nishinoya, thank you for always covering all the spikes I can't block ... and thank you for always getting the other spikers riled up so they're easier to block when they make mistakes, Tanaka ... and the 2nd year bench squad, you're the true MVPs for giving us a broader perspective at each time out ... oh shit, third years, where do I start?! Thank you for covering my shitty receives, Daichi ... and Asahi, I might be taller than you, but you're still the strongest and I don't care what anyone else says about our ace, you're absolutely fierce on the court! Also, Suga ... ah damn, you can be the fairy godmother of my future children if you want to, you're the best mom a team could ask for."

As he took a deep breath after getting all of that out, the others just stared at him with dumbfounded faces, including Yamaguchi who slowly took out his phone and called someone without moving his glance away from his best friend:

"Hey, it's me ... yes, Tsukki got back safely ... I just wanted to ask you if he hit his head on something ... Why? Because I don't know what you did to him, but he just complimented the whole team ... yes, including Hinata and Kageyama ... are you sure you didn't do anything? ... Okay, I see."

He hung up the phone with a mischievous grin before turning to the rest of the team: "Guys, it's official, I think Tsukki's allergic to kisses."

Now they were the ones laughing as Tsukki tried to calm everyone down at once. "What? No, I'm not, I just wanted to tell you guys how much I appreciate you because ... because my girlfriend thinks I should express my feelings more."

Kageyama stared at him with a grumpy look: "You're scary when you're emotional. Please return to your normal form ASAP."

Tsukki stuck out his tongue at Kags, laughing: "You mean like this, you egocentric king?"

"Not like that, dumbass!"

Daichi held Kags back before him and Tsukki would start wrestling on the floor. "There, there ... wait. GIRLFRIEND?!"

Noya joined in, more than obviously hyped: "I heard that too! TELL US MORE!"

Tsukki fixed his glasses into place, yawning while reaching for his towel again: "As if Yamaguchi didn't tell you everything already. I'm in love with that girl from Katsuyama. I decided not to run away from that anymore. End of story. Now if you'll excuse me, I really wanna take that shower and go to bed. I got up at three in the morning and it's starting to show."

 

Once he came back from the shower, most of the guys were sleeping for real this time. However, Daichi was still up, watching Tsukki from his bunk bed.

"You know ... you shocked everyone today." He said it with a low voice.

"Rest assured, I even shocked myself."

"Sorry we made a ruckus out of everything. We probably ruined your special day."

"You didn't. I'm happy to have such a crazy team."

"So ... about your girlfriend. Are you sure you two are gonna be okay? It's quite a big distance there."

Tsukki sighed, getting into his bed. "You're right. I looked up the statistics a few days ago - 78% of long distance couples never make it past one year ... but you know what? I had even lower odds at blocking Ushijima and I still did it ... so I'm starting to think statistics are pointless in real life."

Daichi smiled: "I take it that means you've had that one moment again? You know, the one Bokuto always talks about?"

"Oh, it wasn't just a moment ..." Tsukki mumbled, already half asleep.

 

"... I'm absolutely hooked on all of her."


	12. The Epilogue

Yamaguchi ran down the hallway, chasing Tsukki who was on his way to the cafeteria.

"Tsukki, wait! I don't have such long legs to keep up with you! Plus you're scaring all the new first years!"

"But - they're gonna sell out of strawberry muffins if I don't hurry up."

"Is your best friend not more important than a muffin?"

Tsukki turned around, waiting with a smile for Yams to catch up. "I suppose he is ... while I still have him with me. Make no mistake though, if it were a strawberry shortcake, I wouldn't even bother turning around."

Yams laughed as they walked the rest of the way together: "The real question is, do you love strawberry shortcake more than you love your girlfriend?"

Paying for his muffin, Tsukki shot Yams a sinister glance. "Do not even joke about that. I love her more than anything ... isn't it obvious after all I've been doing for the past month?"

"It definitely is. I still think you're crazy though ... and so does everyone else on the team."

"I know ... but thank you for supporting me. Even though it's ... it's ..."

"It's okay, Tsukki."

"If you say so ... you seem awfully not concerned about the whole thing though."

"Oh, I have enough other concerns. Like for example, where's the Tsukki who hated hotblooded people?"

"He's extinct."

"I'm glad to hear that ... but you're still salty as hell at times, you know?"

Tsukki nodded, heading back to the classroom before Yams tugged on his sleeve. "What?"

"Let's go eat outside today. The weather's nice."

"I don't wanna eat outside. The cherry blossoms keep getting stuck to my glasses. It's annoying."

Yams rolled his eyes, taking Tsukki's glasses off in one swift motion, before he even had the chance to resist. "Problem solved, now let's go."

"Okay, I'm coming ... geez, Yamaguchi ... what's gotten into you?" Reluctant, he still followed him outside. "So, what now? Where do we sit down?"

Yams looked at him, his eyes suddenly widening: "Oh shit! I keep forgetting, you don't see anything more than a meter away from you like this, do you?"

"No shit I don't, Sherlock. The world's a blur. Can I get my glasses back?!"

"Almost ..." Yamaguchi said, giggling as he turned him to his left. "Now, I'll wait for you in the classroom, but don't be late!" He shouted, popping Tsukki's glasses back on his face before he ran off. Tsukki was just about to turn and run after him, but he didn't.

 

Because in the moment his glasses were back on, he finally saw me sitting on a bench in front of him.

"Hey, Tsukki!" I said, giggling as I stood up and waved to him. He stared at me, utterly speechless as I walked up to him, hugging him tight. "I missed you ... like always."

It took almost a full minute before he grasped the situation and wrapped his arms around me as well. "You ... what's going on? What are you doing here? And that's ... that's a Karasuno uniform ..."

I shrugged my shoulders, smiling up at him: "Don't get me wrong ... you were the best long distance boyfriend I could ever wish for. But ... I think I'm gonna throw up if I have to see another train again. I can't stand being away from you, you know I can't ... and I just thought, why not do something about it? So I did!"

"You transferred ..."

"Yep! To class 2-5 sadly, so we won't be classmates ... but still, I transferred!"

"Because of me ..."

"Of course, who else?"

"You ... you ... you idiot ..." He said, suddenly leaning down to kiss me.

As we pulled away from the kiss, I fell something cold fall on my cheek. "Tsukki? Why are you crying?"

"Yamaguchi told you, didn't he? That selfish bastard, no wonder he wasn't concerned, I can't believe he-"

"Tsukki, wait ... I don't know what you're talking about!"

He tilted his head, asking with a doubtful voice. "You didn't talk with Yamaguchi?"

"Of course I did! I asked him to get you out here after the opening ceremony wraps up."

"That was all?"

"Y-Yeah ... two weeks ago, I told him I was gonna transfer and asked if he wanted to help out with the surprise and ... he said he'd gladly do it."

"Anything else?"

"Well, there was something about how I had just the perfect timing ... Tsukki, what's wrong?"

He shook his head, hugging me tighter and kissing me again.

"Tsukki -"

His kisses suffocated any sounds coming from my lips before I could even try to ask him what was going on. As if nothing changed from our first kiss, I still couldn't resist him: in less than a second, I was completely engulfed by the beating of his heart, the warmth of his hand on my cheek, the fire with which our lips moved together ... for such a laid back person, he was a shockingly fierce kisser - but it's not like I didn't like it.

Finally getting to a point where he was completely out of breath, he pulled away slightly, still staying close enough for his lips to brush against mine when he spoke: "I'm sorry ... I just feel so relieved right now ... and so guilty at the same time. I was ... I was about to do the same things you did."

"Huh?"

He stepped back, taking a piece of paper from his pocket and handing it to me.

I look at the form he gave me, my hands starting to shake. "Tsukki ... that's ..."

"The acceptance form for your school. I passed all the exams and I was about to mail it in today."

"Tsukki ... your team ..."

"I know. I told the guys a few days ago, but I guess their reactions were an act if Yamaguchi already knew you were coming here."

"Tsukki ..."

"Come here," he mumbled, pulling me back into his arms.

"Tsukki ... we don't even have a good volleyball team!"

"I know."

"And there would be no way you'd ever make it to the nationals again!"

"I know ... I never thought it was a smart choice."

"Then why?"

He sighed, running my fingers through my hair. "Because I'm done making smart choices. All I want is to be next to you. I wouldn't care if I had to sacrifice my team or my friends or my career for you. Don't I get to act stupid at least a little? I thought all was fair in love and war, isn't it? Well, you outdid me anyway ... so I really feel like I goofed up now."

"Tsukki, you damn idiot ... it was a billion times easier for me to leave! All I had to do was find a new manager for the soccer club and promise dad I'd come visit back home at least once a month. Just because you're in love with me it doesn't mean you can do stupid things for no reason!"

He kissed the tip of my nose, smiling as he looked down at me. "But it's not for no reason ... you're the reason. For all the stupid things I wanna do, for trying my best, for smiling, for looking forward to tomorrow ... you're my reason for everything."

I smiled back, hugging him tight. "You really did a 180, you know? I can't find the calm and composed Tsukki anywhere anymore. But it's ... it's kinda cute when all your emotions are out in the open. I think it's a good change!"

He pulled away from the hug, taking my hand. We both knew it was time to get back to class so I let him lead me back into the building. As we were walking to the 2nd year classrooms, he stopped on an empty staircase along the way, turning around to face me:

"You know how fossils change under the pressure of being buried somewhere deep? And in the end, a simple rock can turn into something wonderful?"

Confused, I nodded.

He smiled, quickly kissing my lips before walking off towards his classroom. Without any idea what he meant by that, I stared at the back of my one and only love as he walked away and an immense happiness blossomed in my heart at the realization that I'll never, ever again have to watch him go far away.

_Tsukki ... I'm finally here. At the place we're both supposed to be ... by each other's side._

Once he stood at the door of his classroom, just as I was about to leave, he turned around, speaking with a soft smile that only I had the privilege of seeing:

"You are right: I was a different person before I met you. I was rough, simple and without any clear direction of what I really wanted. But your love was that pressure for me. Loving you changed me. Being loved by you changed me. I'd thank you from the bottom of my heart for making something wonderful out of me, but even I don't know how deep that is yet, so for now ... just accept my love as it is ... and promise me we'll explore the depth of our hearts together."

A single tear rolled down the side of my face as I nodded, smiling at the incredible guy standing in front of my eyes.

_Oh Tsukki, you idiot ... you really are just like the moon. You were wonderful already, you know? You just needed someone to give you a little light before you could shine on your own. I'm glad I could've been that source of light for you ... and now that the distance between us is gone, I have no doubts you'll shine even brighter._


End file.
